More four by four – hurrah!

Please sir, can I have some Four By Four More? Well, of course you can laddy, and madam why don’t you purchase a copy as well? A snip at £2.99 for four more cutting-edge bands released by Caversham label Broken Tail Records.

Please sir, can I have some Four By Four More? Well, of course you can laddy, and madam why don’t you purchase a copy as well? A snip at £2.99 for four more cutting-edge bands released by Caversham label Broken Tail Records.

The not-for-profit DIY label released its first compilation Four By Four last year to critical success. The label ‘bosses’ hope Four By Four More, that was released on Monday will do just as well.

“I think we were all quite impressed with the reaction to Four By Four,” says Ben Marwood, the label’s co-founder and self-styled ‘anti-folk tune-smith’.

“It picked up some encouraging radio play, from Radio 1 and Radio 2 right the way through to BBC Radio Berkshire and, internationally, a publicly funded radio station in Seattle called KEXP,” he adds.

The idea behind the Four By Four product was to release an EP-style compilation with four different artists, mostly local, to spread the word of the finest ‘small’ alternative acts around. And it worked, with Broken Tail Records achieving ‘Label of the Week’ on Huw Stephens’ Radio 1 show.

“We’re all massive record-loving geekboys who grew up with an idealistic image of the record industry,” says Paul Smith of Broken Tail Records, who’s also guitarist with Reading’s Heartwear Process, “mainly from falling in love with independent record labels like Shifty Disco, Fierce Panda, Chemikal Underground and Deceptive.

“This made us want to create a record label that only provided the listener with great music to listen to, but that also makes them feel part of the community we’re living in.

“The Four by Four EPs are our attempt at this – and I think they work pretty well.”

Four By Four More features Ben Marwood himself as well as Reading bands Tripwires and To The Barricades, but also hosts the sound of Projekt A-KO, who formed from the ashes of cult 90s Scottish lo-fi outfit Urusei Yatsura.

You can even buy the CD from the HMV website.

“It’s really amazing what you can do with a little hard work and hopefully fate will keep smiling on us,” says Paul.

And the Broken Tail boys want to hear from you if you think you deserve a spot on the next Four By Four offering.

“We never turn down the opportunity to hear new music,” says Ben. “It’s why we exist as a label in the first place – so if anyone out there is in a band who need a break or would like to get involved then we do have an open submissions policy.”